The Ephrata Police Department had a one-of-a-kind experience after they had to tranquilize a cougar that had broken into a local’s home.
Becky Bennett from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said that the cougar was filmed walking around the neighborhood and jumping over fences by a resident who was driving down the street.
Locals called the Fish and Wildlife officer who quickly arrived to find the big cat hiding in a man’s kitchen. As they attempted to tranquilize it by shooting a dart at it, the dart missed and caused the animal to jump onto the kitchen counter.
Wildlife officers shot another dart at the cougar and this one hit. The cougar laid down on the sink and almost instantly fell asleep. This gave the officers an opportunity to move in and remove the cat and they transported it to a shrubby grassland area in Douglas County.
In case the cougar tries to make its way back into residential areas, wildlife officials tagged its ear. That way, they can take appropriate actions if it does leave the wild.
“It was an adult male, healthy, nothing wrong with it,” Bennett told Spokesman. “This was probably a wrong time, wrong place, wrong house situation.”
Adult male cougars usually weigh about 140 pounds and are 7 to 8 feet long from nose to tail. Check out the footage taken by the Ephrata man below.